What Water Should you use in your Keurig?

Considering that coffee is 98 percent water, it makes sense that the quality of the water you use to brew your coffee will have a major effect on the taste of the coffee. When it comes to making coffee in your Keurig coffee machine, not all water is created equal.

Some water will have a negative effect on your appliance and others might have a negative effect on the taste. Let’s take a look at different types of water to see which is the best to use with Keurigs and why.

Our Top 4 Selections

What water you fill your Keurig with is very important, whether you are brewing for coffee, hot coco and or the new green tea for Keurig range. Below we have listed 4 of the most common types, plus why they are a good or bad fit.

1. Filtered Water

The best water for your Keurig machine is filtered water. Not the bottled filtered water we are yet to discuss, but rather filtered tap water. With filtered water, you’ll be removing some of the impurities while leaving some minerals behind. Many people believe that having some minerals in the water you use to brew your coffee actually enhances both coffee and non coffee flavors.

There are many options when it comes to filtering your water at home. There are carbon filter pitchers that filter small amounts of water at a time and can be kept in your refrigerator. There are also water filters that attach directly to your tap. You can attach these to your faucet, allowing you to switch between filtered and unfiltered. Others attach under the sink and filter everything that comes out of the tap.

Also see: How Hot Does Keurig Water Get?

2. Bottled or Spring Water

Keurig recommends using bottled water to help prevent buildup. When it comes to bottled water, you can buy purified or spring water. Both of these types of water have been filtered before bottling.

Spring water is naturally filtered underground and comes from an aquifer. With bottled spring water, you’ll need to be cautious of the mineral content. Some brands of spring water have a heavier mineral content than others. This can affect the way your coffee tastes and cause buildup in your machine.

Bottled water has typically been purified, which is a type of filtration process as well. To label themselves as purified water, companies must prove extremely low impurity levels in their water. The filtration process for purified water is quite intensive in order for companies to reach these standards. That means that purified bottled water is unlikely to cause major buildup in your Keurig coffee maker the way tap water will. However, the lack of minerals in purified water may negatively affect the taste of the coffee.

3. Straight From The Tap

Obviously, the easiest way to fill up your Keurig’s water reservoir is straight from the tap. While the simplest option, this might not be the best choice. Tap water tends to have a lot of minerals like calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Depending on where you live, you could have soft or hard tap water. Hard water has even higher mineral content.

These minerals can actually build up inside your Keurig machine. This buildup can have an effect on how your machine is brewing the coffee. Once you start to get buildup in your appliance, you’ll need to descale it. Keurig recommends descaling every 3 to 6 months to help prevent buildup. If you use unfiltered tap water, buildup could happen sooner.

The quality of tap water varies from location to location, so some cities might have better luck with tap water than others. There are organizations that report on the quality of tap water, so you can do some research based on where you are located and determine if the tap water in your area would work well with a Keurig.

4. Distilled Water and Keurig

Many people assume that distilled water is the best option for coffee because it is so pure. However, this is not the case. This type of water has been stripped of absolutely everything, resulting in a flat taste in your coffee.

Distilled water can also cause problems for your Keurig coffee maker. The now-discontinued Keurig 2.0 was not able to sense distilled water in the water reservoir due to the lack of minerals. This resulted in an “add water” error even when the reservoir was full. Distilled water can actually damage your Keurig as well. Metal parts of your appliance could be broken down by the chemical composition of distilled water.

Does My Keurig Need A Water Filter?

To save yourself the hassle, Keurig also sells in-brewer filtration units. These filtration kits fit into the Keurig water reservoirs to filter the water as you brew your coffee. Made of charcoal, they remove the impurities from the water, giving you the best tasting coffee every time. These replaceable filters enhance the flavor of your coffee and extend the lifetime of your Keurig machine. You should replace the filters at least every two months.

You can use the Keurig water filter in addition to filtering your water or by itself. The filter should be enough if your tap water is soft water, but if you have hard water, filtering it twice might be beneficial to you.

Filtered Tap Water Makes the Best Coffee in a Keurig

The best water type for any type of Keurig is filtered tap water. This allows the presence of some minerals which will improve the taste of your coffee. However, it will remove some of the minerals that can cause build up in your Keurig coffee maker. Tap water has the perfect balance for enhancing flavor and preserving your appliance for years to come. Regardless of what water you use, it’s recommended to descale your machine every now and then.